Parking lease opponents appealing, seeking stay

Jun. 12, 2013

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The parking lease opponents who sued the city of Cincinnati to stop it from leasing parking meters, lots and garages plan to appeal the decision and ask the appellate court for a stay to stop the city from signing the lease.

Curt Hartman, a lawyer for the group, says he plans to email the 1st District Court of Appeals tonight or early tomorrow morning.

Now that the city has solved its budget deficit for next year without the $92 million upfront that the parking lease promises, there’s no harm, he said, in granting a stay. A stay could stop the city from signing the lease – which City Manager Milton Dohoney has said he would do as soon as the lower-court judge signs the paperwork – until the opponents’ appeal is heard by the state supreme court.

“It’s proven to not be as time-sensitive,” Hartman said.

The appeals court overturned Common Pleas Judge Robert Winkler’s previous decision and remanded the case back to him for him to cancel the injunction. Dohoney said he would sign the parking lease as soon as Winkler did that.

City Solicitor John Curp was not surprised by the news of opponents asking for a stay, and said it's unlikely it would be granted at this point..

"It would be extraordinary to issue a stay," Curp said. "The court of appeals has ruled. The law is valid. It's a binding ordinance."

Now, though, Hartman hopes that Winkler will wait to remove the injunction once he sees the opponents that prevailed before him are headed for the Supreme Court of Ohio. Waiting would be prudent, he said.

“If they don’t stay this decision,” Hartman said, “the citys going to immediately try to do an end-run” and sign the lease